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Since July, when I last reported to you on the conduct of monetary policy, the U.S. economy has gone through a period of considerable strain, with output contracting for a time and unemployment rising. We in the Federal Reserve System acted vigorously to adjust monetary policy in an endeavor both to limit the extent of the downturn and to hasten its completion. Despite the disruptions engendered by the terrorist attacks of September 11, the typical dynamics of the business cycle have re-emerged and are prompting a firming in economic activity. An array of influences unique to this business cycle, however, seems likely to moderate the speed of the anticipated recovery. At the time of our last report, the economy was weakening. Many firms were responding to the realization that significant overcapacity had developed. The demand for capital goods had dropped sharply, and inventories were uncomfortably high in many industries. In response, businesses slashed production, and the resulting declines in incomes amplified the cyclical downturn. Real gross domestic product did not grow in the second quarter and contracted in the third. |
A coincident deceleration in activity among the world economies was evident over the past year, owing, at least in part, to the retrenchment in the high-technology sector and the global reach of the capital markets in which the firms in that sector are valued and funded. However, before the terrorist attacks, it was far from obvious that this concurrent weakness was becoming self-reinforcing. Indeed, immediately prior to September 11, some sectors exhibited tentative signs of stabilization, contributing to a hope that the worst of the previous cumulative weakness in world economic activity was nearing an end. That hope was decisively dashed by the tragic events of early September. Adding to the intense forces weighing on asset prices and economic activity before September 11 were new sources of uncertainty that began to press down on global demand for goods and services. Economies almost everywhere weakened further, a cause for increasing uneasiness. The simultaneous further slowing in activity raised concerns that a self-reinforcing cycle of contraction, fed by perceptions of greater economic risk, could develop. Such an event, though rare, would not be unprecedented in business-cycle history. |
If ever a situation existed in which the fabric of business and consumer confidence, both here and abroad, was vulnerable to being torn, the shock of September 11 was surely it. In addition to the horrific loss of life, enormous uncertainties accompanied the unfolding events and their implications for the economy. Indeed, for a period of weeks, U.S. economic activity did drop dramatically in response to that shock. In the immediate aftermath of the strikes, the Federal Reserve engaged in aggressive action to counter the effects of the shock on payment systems and financial markets. We provided a huge volume of reserves through open market operations, the discount window, and other means to facilitate the functioning of the financial system. We worked closely with many market participants, industry groups, and other government officials on a broad range of financial infrastructure problems that needed to be resolved quickly and in the common interest. Still, market functioning was impaired for a time. The substantial damage to trading, settlement, and communications facilities forced many market participants to their backup sites. Owing in part to careful and thorough contingency planning, many firms, markets, and exchanges were able to resume business within a few hours or days of the attacks. Nonetheless, the episode did reveal threats to, and vulnerabilities of, the operations of financial institutions that had not been previously considered and illustrated the significant interdependence of the modern financial infrastructure. Institutions will need to continue to work diligently toward ensuring that their backup capabilities are adequate. We at the Federal Reserve have been reexamining intensively our own contingency capabilities to ensure that our central banking functions can be performed in the most pressing of emergency circumstances. In the weeks following the attacks, along with the drops in activity and confidence, equity prices fell markedly, and lenders became more cautious, boosting risk premiums, especially on credits already considered to be weak. In response, the Federal Reserve reduced short-term interest rates considerably further. Longer-term yields, including mortgage rates, fell to extraordinarily low levels. The monetary stimulus that we provided was visible not only in interest rates but also in a rapid growth of liquidity over the final months of the year, as gauged by the broad monetary aggregates. As the fourth quarter progressed, business and consumer confidence recovered, no doubt buoyed by successes in the war on terrorism. The improved sentiment seemed to buffer the decline in economic activity. Indeed, in the past several months, increasing signs have emerged that some of the forces that have been restraining the economy over the past year are starting to diminish and that activity is beginning to firm. The appearance of these signs, in circumstances in which the level of the real federal funds rate was at a very low level, led the Federal Open Market Committee to keep policy unchanged at its meeting in late January, although it retained its assessment that the risks were tilted toward economic weakness. |
One key consideration in the assessment that the economy is close to a turning point is the behavior of inventories. Stocks in many industries have been drawn down to levels at which firms will soon need to taper off their rate of liquidation, if they have not already done so. Any slowing in the rate of inventory liquidation will induce a rise in industrial production if demand for those products is stable or is falling only moderately. That rise in production will, other things being equal, increase household income and spending. The runoff of inventories, even apart from the large reduction in motor vehicle stocks, remained sizable in the fourth quarter. Hence, with production running well below sales, the lift to income and spending from the inevitable cessation of inventory liquidation could be significant. But that impetus to the growth of activity will be short-lived unless sustained increases in final demand kick in before the positive effects of the swing from inventory liquidation dissipate. Most recoveries in the post-World War II period received a boost from a rebound in demand for consumer durables and housing from recession-depressed levels in addition to an abatement of inventory liquidation. Through much of last year's slowdown, however, spending by the household sector held up well and proved to be a major stabilizing force. As a consequence, although household spending should continue to trend up, the potential for significant acceleration in activity in this sector is likely to be more limited than in past cycles. In fact, there are a number of cross currents in the outlook for household spending. In recent months, low mortgage interest rates and favorable weather have provided considerable support to homebuilding. Moreover, attractive mortgage rates have bolstered the sales of existing homes and the extraction of capital gains embedded in home equity that those sales engender. Low rates have also encouraged households to take on larger mortgages when refinancing their homes. Drawing on home equity in this manner is a significant source of funding for consumption and home modernization. The pace of such extractions likely dropped along with the decline in refinancing activity that followed the backup in mortgage rates that began in early November. But mortgage rates remain at low levels and should continue to underpin activity in this sector. Consumer spending received a considerable lift from the sales of new motor vehicles, which were remarkably strong in October and November owing to major financing incentives. Sales have receded somewhat as incentives were scaled back, but they have remained surprisingly resilient. Other consumer spending appears to have advanced at a solid pace in recent months. The substantial declines in the prices of natural gas, fuel oil, and gasoline have clearly provided some support to real disposable income and spending. To have a more persistent effect on the ongoing growth of total personal consumption expenditures, energy prices would need to continue declining. Futures prices do not suggest that such an outcome is in the offing, though the forecast record of these markets is less than impressive. Changes in household financial positions in recent years are probably damping consumer spending, at least to a degree. Overall household wealth relative to income has dropped from a peak multiple of about 6.3 at the end of 1999 to around 5.3 currently. Moreover, the aggregate household debt service burden, defined as the ratio of households' required debt payments to their disposable personal income, rose considerably in recent years, returning last year to its previous cyclical peak of the mid-1980s. |
However, neither wealth nor the burden of debt is distributed evenly across households. Hence, the spending effects of changes in these influences also will not be evenly distributed. For example, increased debt burdens appear disproportionately attributable to higher-income households. Calculations by staff at the Federal Reserve suggest that the ratio of household liabilities to annual income for the top fifth of all households ranked by income, who accounted for 44 percent of total after-tax household income last year, rose from about 1.10 at the end of 1998 to 1.20 at the end of the third quarter of 2001. The increase for the lower four-fifths was only about half as large. Although high-income households should not experience much strain in meeting their obligations, others might. Indeed, repayment difficulties have already increased, particularly in the subprime markets for consumer loans and mortgages. Delinquency rates may well worsen as a delayed result of the strains on household finances over the past two years. Large erosions, however, do not seem likely, and the overall levels of debt and repayment delinquencies do not, as of now, appear to pose a major impediment to a moderate expansion of consumption spending going forward. Although the macroeconomic effects of debt burdens may be limited, we have already seen significant spending restraint among the top fifth of income earners, presumably owing to the drop in equity prices. The effect of the stock market on other households' spending has been less evident. Moderate-income households have a much larger proportion of their assets in homes, and the continuing rise in the value of houses has provided greater support for their net worth. Reflecting these differences in portfolio composition, the net worth of the top fifth of income earners has dropped far more than it did for the bottom 80 percent. As a consequence, excluding capital gains and losses from the calculation, as is the convention in our national income accounts, personal saving for the upper fifth, which had been negative during 1999 and 2000, turned positive in 2001. By contrast, the average saving rate for the lower four-fifths of households, by income, was generally positive during the second half of the 1990s and has fluctuated in a narrow range in the past two years. Accordingly, most of the change in consumption expenditures that resulted from the bull stock market, and its demise, reflected shifts in spending by upper-income households. The restraining effects from the net decline in wealth during the past two years presumably have not, as yet, fully played out and could exert some further damping effect on the overall growth of household spending relative to that of income. Perhaps most central to the outlook for consumer spending will be developments in the labor market. The pace of layoffs quickened last fall, especially after September 11, and the unemployment rate rose sharply. However, layoffs diminished noticeably in January, and the reported unemployment rate declined though adjusting for seasonal influences was difficult last month. Moreover, initial claims for unemployment insurance have decreased markedly, on balance, providing further evidence of an improvement in labor market conditions. Even if the economy is on the road to recovery, the unemployment rate, in typical cyclical fashion, may resume its increase for a time, and a soft labor market could put something of a damper on consumer spending. However, the extent of such restraint will depend on how much of any rise in unemployment is the result of weakened demand for goods and services and how much reflects strengthened productivity. In the latter case, average real incomes of workers could rise, at least partially offsetting losses of purchasing power that stem from diminished levels of employment. Indeed, preliminary data suggest that productivity has held up very well of late, and history suggests that any depressing effect of rapid productivity growth on employment is only temporary. |
The dynamics of inventory investment and the balance of factors influencing consumer demand will have important consequences for the economic outlook in coming months. But the broad contours of the present cycle have been, and will continue to be, driven by the evolution of corporate profits and capital investment. The retrenchment in capital spending over the past year and a half was central to the sharp slowing we experienced in overall activity. The steep rise in high-tech spending that occurred in the early post-Y2K months was clearly not sustainable. The demand for many of the newer technologies was growing rapidly, but capacity was expanding even faster, and that imbalance exerted significant downward pressure on prices and the profits of producers of high-tech goods and services. New orders for equipment and software hesitated in the middle of 2000 and then fell abruptly as firms re-evaluated their capital investment programs. Uncertainty about economic prospects boosted risk premiums significantly, and this rise, in turn, propelled required, or hurdle, rates of return to markedly elevated levels. In most cases, businesses required that new investments pay off much more rapidly than they had previously. For much of last year, the resulting decline in investment outlays was fierce and unrelenting. Although the weakness was most pronounced in the technology area, reductions in capital outlays were broad-based. These cutbacks in capital spending interacted with, and were reinforced by, falling profits and equity prices. Indeed, a striking feature of the current cyclical episode relative to many earlier ones has been the virtual absence of pricing power across much of American business, as increasing globalization and deregulation have enhanced competition. In this low-inflation environment, firms have perceived very little ability to pass cost increases on to customers. To be sure, growth in hourly labor compensation has moderated in response to slowed inflation and deteriorating economic conditions. A significant falloff in stock-option realizations and in other forms of compensation related to company performance has likely been a factor. But over most of the past year, even those smaller hourly compensation increases outstripped gains in output per hour, on balance, precipitating a marked decline in profit margins. Business managers, with little opportunity to raise prices, have moved aggressively to stabilize cash flows by trimming workforces. These efforts have limited any rise in unit costs, attenuated the pressure on profit margins, and ultimately helped to preserve the vast majority of private-sector jobs. To the extent that businesses are successful in stabilizing and eventually boosting profits and cash flow, capital spending should begin to recover more noticeably. Part of the reduction in pricing power observed in this cycle should be reversed as firming demand enables firms to take back large price discounts. Though such an adjustment would tend to elevate price levels, underlying inflationary cost pressures should remain contained. To be sure, output per hour is not likely to accelerate this year as much as in a typical recovery because businesses have not delayed, as they have in past recessions, shedding workers at the first indications of weakened demand. But slack in labor markets and further increases in productivity should hold labor costs in check and result in rising profit margins even with inflation remaining low. Improved profit margins and more assured prospects for rising final demand would likely be accompanied by a decline in risk premiums from their current elevated levels toward a more normal range. With real rates of return on high-tech equipment still attractive, that should provide an additional spur to new investment. Reports from businesses around the country suggest that the exploitation of available networking and other information technologies was only partially completed when the cyclical retrenchment of the past year began. Many business managers are still of the view, according to a recent survey of purchasing managers, that less than half of currently available new, and presumably profitable, supply-chain technologies have been put into use. Recent evidence suggests that a recovery in at least some forms of high-tech investment could already be under way. Production of semiconductors, which in the past has been a leading indicator of computer production, turned up last fall. Expenditures on computers rose at a double-digit annual rate in real terms last quarter. But the contraction of investment expenditures in the communications sector, where the amount of overcapacity was substantial, as yet shows few signs of abating, and business investment in some other sectors, such as aircraft, hit by the drop in air travel, will presumably remain weak this year. On balance, the recovery in overall spending on business fixed investment is likely to be only gradual; in particular, its growth will doubtless be less frenetic than in 1999 and early 2000--a period during which outlays were boosted by the dislocations of Y2K and the extraordinarily low cost of equity capital available to many firms. Nonetheless, if the recent more-favorable economic developments gather momentum, uncertainties will diminish, risk premiums will fall, and the pace of capital investment embodying new technologies will increase. Even a subdued recovery beginning soon would constitute a truly remarkable performance for the American economy in the face of so severe a decline in equity asset values and an unprecedented blow from terrorists to the foundations of our market systems. For, if the tentative indications that the contraction phase of this business cycle is drawing to a close are ultimately confirmed, we will have experienced a significantly milder downturn than the long history of business cycles would have led us to expect. Crucially, the imbalances that triggered the downturn and that could have prolonged this difficult period did not fester. The obvious questions are what has changed in our economy in recent decades to provide such resilience and whether such changes will persist into the future. Doubtless, the substantial improvement in the access of business decisionmakers to real-time information has played a key role. Thirty years ago, the timeliness of available information varied across companies and industries, often resulting in differences in the speed and magnitude of their responses to changing business conditions. In contrast to the situation that prevails today, businesses did not have real-time data systems that enabled decisionmakers in different enterprises to work from essentially the same set of information. In those earlier years, imbalances were inadvertently allowed to build to such an extent that their inevitable correction engendered significant economic stress. That process of correction and the accompanying economic and financial disruptions too often led to deep and prolonged recessions. Today, businesses have large quantities of data available virtually in real time. As a consequence, they address and resolve economic imbalances far more rapidly than in the past. |
The apparent increased flexibility of the American economy arguably also reflects the extent of deregulation over the past quarter century. Certainly, if the energy sector were still in the tight regulatory fetters of the 1970s, our flexibility today would be markedly less. That the collapse of Enron barely registered in the relatively recently developed markets for natural gas and electric power was encouraging. Although the terrorist attacks hit air travel especially hard over the past few months, deregulation of that industry has demonstrably increased the quantity and flexibility, if not the profitability, of air travel over the past twenty years. Trucking and rail deregulation has added flexibility to the movement of goods across our nation. Both deregulation and innovation in the financial sector have been especially important in enhancing overall economic resilience. New financial products--including derivatives, asset-backed securities, collateralized loan obligations, and collateralized mortgage obligations, among others--have enabled risk to be dispersed more effectively to those willing to, and presumably capable of, bearing it. Shocks to the overall economic system are accordingly less likely to create cascading credit failure. Lenders have the opportunity to be considerably more diversified, and borrowers are far less dependent on specific institutions for funds. Financial derivatives, particularly, have grown at a phenomenal pace over the past fifteen years, evidently fulfilling a need to hedge risks that were not readily deflected in earlier decades. Despite the concerns that these complex instruments have induced (an issue I will address shortly), the record of their performance, especially over the past couple of stressful years, suggests that on balance they have contributed to the development of a far more flexible and efficient financial system--both domestically and internationally--than we had just twenty or thirty years ago. As a consequence of increased access to real-time information and, more arguably, extensive deregulation in financial and product markets and the unbundling of risk, imbalances are more likely to be readily contained, and cyclical episodes overall should be less severe than would be the case otherwise. If this is indeed the case--and it must be considered speculative until more evidence is gathered--the implied reduction in volatility, other things equal, would lower risk and equity premiums. Other things, however, may not be wholly equal. The very technologies that appear to be the main cause of our apparent increased flexibility and resiliency may also be imparting different forms of vulnerability that could intensify or be intensified by a business cycle. From one perspective, the ever-increasing proportion of our GDP that represents conceptual as distinct from physical value added may actually have lessened cyclical volatility. In particular, the fact that concepts cannot be held as inventories means a greater share of GDP is not subject to a type of dynamics that amplifies cyclical swings. But an economy in which concepts form an important share of valuation has its own vulnerabilities. As the recent events surrounding Enron have highlighted, a firm is inherently fragile if its value added emanates more from conceptual as distinct from physical assets. A physical asset, whether an office building or an automotive assembly plant, has the capability of producing goods even if the reputation of the managers of such facilities falls under a cloud. The rapidity of Enron's decline is an effective illustration of the vulnerability of a firm whose market value largely rests on capitalized reputation. The physical assets of such a firm comprise a small proportion of its asset base. Trust and reputation can vanish overnight. A factory cannot. The implications of such a loss of confidence for the macroeconomy depend importantly on how freely the conceptual capital of the fading firm can be replaced by a competitor or a new entrant into the industry. Even if entry is relatively free, macroeconomic risks can emerge if problems at one particular firm tend to make investors and counterparties uncertain about other firms that they see as potentially similarly situated. The difficulty of valuing firms that deal primarily with concepts and the growing size and importance of these firms may make our economy more susceptible to this type of contagion. Another, more conventional determinant of stability will be the economy's degree of leverage--the extent to which debt rather than equity is financing the level of capital. The proper degree of leverage in a firm, or in an economy as a whole, is an inherently elusive figure that almost certainly changes from time to time. Clearly, firms find some leverage advantageous in enhancing returns on equity, and thus moderate leverage undoubtedly boosts the capital stock and the level of output. A sophisticated financial system, with its substantial array of instruments to unbundle risks, will tend toward a higher degree of leverage at any given level of underlying economic risk. But, the greater the degree of leverage in any economy, the greater its vulnerability to unexpected shortfalls in demand and mistakes. |
Indeed, on a historical cost basis, the ratio of debt to net worth for the nonfinancial corporate business sector did rise, from 71 percent at the end of 1997 to about 81 percent at the end of the third quarter of last year, though it is still well below its level at the beginning of the recession in 1990. The ratio of interest payments to cash flow, one indicator of the consequence of leverage, has crept up in recent years, reflecting growth in debt. However, owing to lower interest rates, it remains far below its levels of the early 1990s. Although the fears of business leverage have been mostly confined to specific sectors in recent years, concerns over potential systemic problems resulting from the vast expansion of derivatives have reemerged with the difficulties of Enron. To be sure, firms like Enron, and Long-Term Capital Management before it, were major players in the derivatives markets. But their problems were readily traceable to an old fashioned excess of debt, however acquired, as well as to opaque accounting of that leverage and lax counterparty scrutiny. Swaps and other derivatives throughout their short history, including over the past eighteen months, have been remarkably free of default. Of course, there can be latent problems in any market that expands as rapidly as these markets have. Regulators and supervisors are particularly sensitive to this possibility. Derivatives have provided greater flexibility to our financial system. But their very complexity could leave counterparties vulnerable to significant risk that they do not currently recognize, and hence these instruments potentially expose the overall system if mistakes are large. In that regard, the market's reaction to the revelations about Enron provides encouragement that the force of market discipline can be counted on over time to foster much greater transparency and increased clarity and completeness in the accounting treatment of derivatives. How these countervailing forces for stability evolve will surely be a major determinant of the volatility that our economy will experience in the years ahead. Monetary policy will have to be particularly sensitive to the possibility that the resiliency our economy has exhibited during the past two years signals subtle changes in the way our system functions. Our most recent experiences underscore this possibility, along with the persistence of a long list of older, well-tested, economic verities. Inventories, especially among producers and purchasers of high-tech products, did run to excess over the past year, as sales forecasts went badly astray; alas, technology has not allowed us to see into the future any more clearly than we could previously. But technology did facilitate the quick recognition of the weakening in sales and backup of inventories. This enabled producers to respond forcefully, as evidenced by output adjustments that have resulted in the extraordinary rate of inventory liquidation we experienced late last year. For the period just ahead, the central tendency of the forecasts of the members of the Federal Open Market Committee is for real GDP to rise 2-1/2 to 3 percent during 2002. Such a pace for the growth of real output is somewhat below the rates of growth typically seen early in previous expansions. Certain factors, such as the lack of pent-up demand in the consumer sector, significant levels of excess capacity in a number of industries, weakness and financial fragility in some key international trading partners, and persistent caution in financial markets at home, seem likely to restrain the near-term performance of the economy. In line with past experience during the early stages of expansion, labor market performance is expected initially to lag as firms rely primarily on overtime and shifts from part-time to full-time work. The unemployment rate is anticipated to rise somewhat further over 2002, to the area of 6 to 6-1/4 percent. FOMC members evidently anticipate that slack in resource utilization, the lagged effects of past declines in energy prices, and productivity growth will keep inflation low this year, with the price index for personal consumption expenditure increasing about 1-1/2 percent. Despite its forecast that economic growth is likely to resume at a moderate pace, as I already noted, the Federal Open Market Committee at its meeting on January 30 saw the risks nonetheless as continuing to be weighted mainly toward conditions that may generate economic weakness in the foreseeable future. In effect, the FOMC indicated that until the dynamics of sustained expansion are more firmly in place, it remained concerned about the possibility of weak growth for a time, despite the very low level of the federal funds rate. Although there are ample reasons to be cautious about the economic outlook, the recuperative powers of the U.S. economy, as I have tried to emphasize in my presentation, have been remarkable. When I presented our report on monetary policy to this Committee last summer, few if any of us could have anticipated events such as those to which our nation has subsequently been subjected. The economic consequences of those events and their aftermath are an integral part of the many challenges that we now collectively face. The U.S. economy has experienced a substantial shock, and, no doubt, we continue to face risks in the period ahead. But the response thus far of our citizens to these new economic challenges provides reason for encouragement. February 2002 Monetary policy report | 2002 Testimony Home | News and events | Monetary policy Accessibility | Contact Us Last update: February 27, 2002, 10:00 AM |


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This article is more than 1 year old
LG tunes in to Google TV
Android-equipped tellies out in 2012
LG has hopped on the Google TV bandwagon.
LG will show off a smart TV loaded with Google's Android-based telly interface at next week's Consumer Electronics Show (CES). The set will do passive 3D, with 2D-to-3D conversion on board.
LG said it was not dropping its own IPTV UI, which will be available on more than 60 per cent of its tellies this year.
Well, it's good to have a back up plan.
Launched in 2010, Google TV has still to prove itself in the market.
In November 2011, Logitech CEO Guerrino De Luca admitted the company had partnered with Google too early, implying the mouse makers Revue set-top box had been essentially rushed to market.
"Google TV is a great concept, Google TV has the potential to completely disrupt living room," De Luca told investors. "The integration of television in Internet is inevitable. But the idea that it would happen overnight in Christmas 2010 was very misguided and that also cost us dearly."
Both Sony and Samsung have also given Google TV the thumbs-up. ®

subset: commoncrawl


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Admissions Open 2024 - 25
Admission Policy
Admissions are taken on the first come first serve basis on the age eligibility criteria. From grades 3 onwards, a competency level test is conducted to assess the child's academic level. For grades three and four the subject assessed are English, math and Social Studied. For grade 5 test for Hindi is also conducted. The results of the tests are used to determine the level of support the school would offer to ensure the child's smooth transition into the new environment.
What does this mean to your child?
- Lays the foundation to an inclusive society: accepting, respecting & celebrating diversity.
- Provides a diverse stimulating environment to grow and learn.
- Learning takes place from peer modelling.
- Results in improved social development & academic outcomes for all learners.
- Provides a sense of belonging to all.
- Enhances self-respect.
- Helps every child to achieve his best.
- Prepares them for real life situations.
Open Entry
"Quality Education is the right of each child. It is easy for a school to 'look good' if they only select children after testing for high achievement. Programmes for the gifted and high flyers are not enough. Social justice can only be achieved through open entry for admission and an education system that provides a high quality infrastructure to enable all children to experience the joy and wonder of learning." - Lina Ashar, Founder-Chairperson, KKEL
- To ensure that every child is given an opportunity, admission forms are issued on a first come basis. There is no filtering of forms.
- At the Primary and Middle school level, Competency Tests are conducted to determine at which grade the child will derive maximum benefit from the curriculum.
Requirements for Admissions
The list of documents to be submitted at the time of admission is as follows:
- Admission form
- One certified true copy of the child's Birth Certificate
- One certified true copy each of School reports of the last three years
- School Leaving Certificate (Grade 1 onwards)
- Certified true copy of the Grade 10 result and Board Marksheet for the admission to Grade 11
- Certified true copy of the Grade 11 result and Board Marksheet for the admission to Grade 12
- Two passport size photographs


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Classic Spin Glass Bowl
Sky Castle
Regular price $10.00
Unit price per
Defective Policy
- We only comp 5 star members, sign up today and OPT-IN
- Need proof of purchase - Receipt/Bank Statement
- No, we cannot look up receipts
- Yes, we can look up your Fivestar History
- Always remember to check-in on fivestars to collect points
- We will crack open your defective disposable to check if the pod is full
- If it's full we will comp a replacement for free.
- If it's empty you can get a new one 20% off or any Clearance disposable for free.
- We will notate how many times you come in with a defective disposable.


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How to get birth control privately when you're a teen & keep condoms from breaking
Heather Corinna replies:Me and my boyfriend want to get me birth control pills, as we've had the condom break three times on us already, and we're really fearful of pregnancy. I've already seen on this site a question on how to get birth control, but I have more questions than were answered. I'm 16, as is my boyfriend. Neither of us are able to drive yet because we didn't get our permits at the correct time (though we can take a cab to get somewhere), my mom would be highly unsupportive of the fact me and him are having sex (and even more unsupportive of me being pregnant), but we don't want to stop or anything, we just want more ways to protect ourselves against pregnancy. So, I need a way to get birth control without my mom's know. In the question I've read, you guys said that the doctor would ask for my name, address, phone number, and social security number. By giving them any of these things, would my mom be able to know I had seen the doctor? One of my main fears of getting birth control is my mom finding out somehow. Also, I don't know where my mom keeps my social security card, and I haven't memorized the number, so how can I find it out? Can I not have to tell the doctor?
I thought someone who'd be perfect to answer your questions is one of my favorite young sexual health educators, the marvelous Joanna Dawson, MPH, Teen Health Educator at United Action for Youth. She had some great information and helps for you!
Joanna said: To start, good on you and your partner! It looks like the both of you work on communicating, and I'm happy to see that you're supportive of one another in figuring this all out. There's a lot of things to touch on, so let's get to it!
Before we get to the birth control pills themselves, I want to review the condom issue. Condoms can be finicky things, but are an important part of protecting your sexual health as they are a very effective way to prevent sexually transmitted infections! This may seem like a low priority since you're in a relationship with what looks to be one person, but it's still important to protect yourself, and STIs are just as much of a risk as pregnancy. It's not all about trusting the other person to be free of STIs, but about your body too! The most important and long-term relationship you will ever have is one with yourself, and it's gotta come first. Plus, mixing and matching methods like condoms and hormonal pills can keep all your bases covered. So how do we get condoms back in play?
Condoms are a great way to avoid pregnancy and STIs, but there is risk for user error. You can review the in-depth steps to using a condom properly here at Scarleteen, and I've got a trick for you, too. It may be difficult to follow each step in the heat of the moment when you're first learning, so you can do a few things like practice. Get comfortable using them with and without your partner, figuring out which lubricants and types of condoms you like best.
Once you're poised and ready to go, you can make sure you've covered all the important steps to proper condom use by remembering a certain influential woman: OPRAH! No, not actually the queen of media herself, but the letters in her name can help if you're in a bind:
O = Open Carefully! Don't use your teeth, make sure the condom is squished to the opposite side of the package from where you want to rip it open. Once the condom is out, you or your partner can put a dot of lube just inside the condom for the wearer's comfort.
P = Pinch the tip! Be sure to pinch the tip of the condom to keep out air bubbles and to leave room for the seminal fluid if and after your partner ejaculates.
R = Roll down! While you've got the tip of the condom in hand (pinch!) roll the condom to the base of the penis shaft. Don't pull down too hard, you want to keep that space in the tip of the condom! This is the part where you also add lubricant to the condom on the outside.
A = Action time! This is the fun part right? Keep in mind that among other things, condoms can slide off. If that happens in the midst of your go time, keep calm! Toss the used condom out, and start again with a new one.
H = Hold fast! H is two-fold step. First, you want to be sure to hold the base of the penis and condom to extract the penis from whatever action was going down following ejaculation. Second, hold the tip of the condom when removing the condom from the still-erect penis. This is important to keep seminal fluid from coming in contact with anyone or accidentally causing a spill.
OPRAH doesn't quite cover all the ins and outs of putting a condom on correctly, but it can sure be helpful if you're stuck on a step and not sure how to move forward.
So, you know all the steps, you've used condoms before and still - they keep breaking! This may be for a variety of reasons. Without knowing exactly how you and your partner are using condoms, let's go over some of the big things that may cause a condom to break.
Are you following all the steps? We went over those already, so let's presume you've got it down. Next, it all comes down to lube! Not using lube as needed to keep the condom (and your genitals!) from getting too dry or using the wrong type of lubrication may lead to the ultimate demise of your condoms.
Lubricants are like condoms - they are not a do-it-yourself project! Buy them from the store, get them from a clinic, ask your parents/friends to give them to you. Making condoms from plastic bags, latex gloves, or other things you find around the house won't work! Same goes for lube. Food, lotion, spit, water or other products in your house are not intended for condoms. Oil-based products like Vaseline are something you especially want to avoid because they can weaken the condom and make them easier to break. Plus, products like that are not easy to wash off your body and can be full of bacteria that will stick to your skin easier and potentially lead to infection. All around not good!
If you are utilizing latex condoms, you want to be sure you have water-based lubricants. This is something that will be clear on the packaging of your lubricant. There's all sorts of brands and styles so feel free to experiment until you find the best lube for you! A special note to consider, if you have silicone-based lubes, these are safe to use with latex and latex-free condoms, but they should not come in contact with sex toys. The silicone in the lubricant will react with the silicone in the toys and cause holes and other problems.
Now that you're all set with the right type of lube, the other thing to do is make sure you use it! Lube is not up for negotiation. If you're using condoms (and hooray for that), then you've gotta use lube. Using lube will be more pleasurable for all partners involved, and help keep the condom from breaking by reducing the amount of friction or force that pulls on the condom itself.
Alright, that was the condom review. Thanks for sticking it out!
Let's get onto the real meat of your question. I see this as two main issues: 1) how do you get birth control and 2) how is your privacy protected when you go to the clinic? I'll try and focus on those main points, and if you want more check this out. I'm going to approach your question as a user in the United States: not all countries (or states) have the same policies and laws, but we'll address ours for you.
Let's start by locating and figuring out where you should go to get birth control. There are many different credible sources like the American Sexual Health Association, Planned Parenthood, and even the MTV Get Yourself Tested (GYT) campaign that can help guide you to available clinics in your area. Once you've found a place to go, call and make an appointment! If you're worried about the clinic calling home and breaking the news to your mom, don't worry! We'll get more into your legal protections shortly, but rest assured that if you tell the clinic NOT to notify you by phone to send a reminder, they are legally obligated not to do so. This is protected by Griswold v. Connecticut, a landmark 1965 Supreme Court ruling that shot down laws prohibiting distribution of contraceptives. Additionally, this ruling addressed rights to privacy for married couples and found a "zone of privacy" protected by language in the US Bill of Rights. These protections were extended to minors in a 1977 ruling. As a 16 year old woman, you have the full legal capacity to obtain a prescription and purchase birth control options.
When it comes to specific states, there are a few that have restrictions in place for parental consent. You can click here to check out your specific state restrictions (if any), and to make sure you know your protections. Overall, as a 16 year old, you pass most of the restrictions listed for states and should have no problem legally obtaining birth control without parental consent. Beyond sexual health regulations, there are additional rules in place to protect all of your health information. HIPAA rules force any health care providers to have securities in place to protect your information and maintain your privacy. This means if your mom (or anyone!) suspected you had an appointment at whatever clinic and called to ask them about you, the clinic is not going to tell her anything or even acknowledge that you are a patient there. If you want to share any of your information, you will have to sign documents that give them the freedom to do so. I mention all this because I think it is important for everyone to know their legal rights and protections. Health care is not out of your control - it is your body and you have the right to be aware! If you have heard of anyone being manipulated around these rulings, feel free to throw these cases back at them!
Off my soap box now: at this point you've found a clinic, made an appointment and are ready to figure out how to get there. Your question mentioned being able to get a cab - which is awesome that you two can pool funds to get to the clinic, but what can you do if you don't have the fare? Public agencies like your county Department of Health and Human services would be a great first call and be able to direct you to a specific place that may offer bus passes for youth. If you're unsure about bus routes, or live too far away from any public transportation, they can still work with you to figure out a solution. Some cities even offer free or reduced public transportation for students.
At your appointment, you are going to need to give them basic information like your address, phone number and other things. I'm glad you mentioned needing your social security number (aka SSN) because I doubt you're the only one who doesn't have the number off the top of your head! Clinics may ask for your SSN and other information in order to ensure you are who you say you are, to keep in touch with you for payment or notifications. With that, as I stated above, you will not be notified about any of those things without approval!
In 2007 the Federal Trade Commission instated Red Flag Laws in order to help protect from information fraud. There are no regulations that say you HAVE to disclose your social security number at a clinic, but they may ask for it, anyways. You may be able to get around that request by offering to pay cash, giving the last 4 digits of your SSN if known, offer to provide a different form of identification, or just ask what their policy is about social security numbers. Be aware that the clinic can ultimately refuse to serve you, however you may find some flexibility at a women's health center or other clinic that caters to teens. If you are uncomfortable talking with your mom about knowing your SSN, you may find some alternatives!
During your appointment, you're probably going to have to go through some basic exams and testing before you're set up with a birth control option. Not all clinics have the same policies about that, and some make those things optional. If you have options and don't want to get a pelvic exam just yet, at the very least, it's wise to get an STI screening, especially since birth control methods can't protect you from STIs, and you have had condoms break, which will have increased your STI risks.
There are many options to help prevent pregnancy beyond birth control pills, and I encourage you to speak with your doctor honestly about what you're looking for. Other hormonal options like Implanon or the vaginal ring may be options to consider since they don't require remembering to take a pill at the same time every day, which is hard for a lot of young people.
Worried about paying for whichever method is best for you? Never fear! In 1970, the Title X Family Planning program was enacted, which is dedicated to providing you with comprehensive sexual health services. This includes financial support for clinics to provide information and prevention services like contraception. This means that you may be able to pay for services on a sliding scale based on your income, or even get free services. Not every method of hormonal contraception is available at the same cost, but talk with your clinic and you'll get more information about what they're able to do based on your information. Some clinics are able to offer long-acting-reversible contraceptives like Implanon and IUDs entirely free of charge, so it's worth finding out!
After you've been set up with whichever option, keep in mind that this doesn't have to be the ONLY method you use for the rest of your life. If there are aspects that you are unhappy with or cause problems in your life, return to the clinic and they'll work with you to trying another method that may be better. Sometimes it takes a few tries to find the method that's just right, and sometimes a method right for one time of life isn't a good fit for another. Remember to review the health information you receive with your method! Most hormonal birth control methods require a period of time before they are at their most effective, so being sure you understand how it will impact your body and potential side effects is important.
That's the whole scoop! To review, you are old enough to seek health services at a clinic and obtain hormonal birth control options without parental consent, for potentially reduced cost. Plus, we had a bonus discussion about correct condom use because it is important to keep on protecting yourself against STIs even if you have another method of contraception, and condoms make a great birth control backup if something goes amiss with your other method.
The last thing I want to encourage is for you to consider how you can reach out about some of these issues with your mom. I understand there's a lot of specific ins and outs to every relationship, but feeling free to disclose your sexual health decisions with your parents can demonstrate your maturity, responsibility for yourself and show that you're interested in keeping your mom involved with your life. Chances are she wants to be involved and to know about big choices in your life, but only you can fully understand if that's an option available to you. It may be awkward and stressful - but it could reap great rewards!
Here are a few more additional links you may find helpful:


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This is my cooking website I started over 25 years ago to teach myself how to cook and then share everything I've learned with my readers. It is a labor of love and every day I learn something new to share with you. From cooking techniques to essential cookware & gadgets to new recipes to photography, there is always something interesting to learn.
Thanks for sharing this journey with me and please share this page with friends and family who enjoy good food and culinary pleasures.
Who is the Reluctant Gourmet?
The Reluctant Gourmet may sound like a professional chef or cooking expert who knows what he's talking about but truthfully, I'm just another home cook wading through the culinary trenches trying not to get lost. It all started back in my New York City days.
By day, I was a typical Wall Street bond broker out there to make the almighty buck, but on nights and weekends it was all about being in the kitchen with some decent wine, good food and friends.
I learned early on that I enjoy good food. So, either I would have to make a ton of money to go out and pay for expensive meals night after night, or I would have to learn to cook these meals myself. After being inspired by a lot of talented girlfriends, I decided to teach myself how to cook.
No culinary school; no cooking classes
No fancy kitchen. Some days were triumphs in the kitchen, and others just...weren't. My method back then was to learn by mistakes, and it still is to this day.
I discovered I could make great, restaurant quality food at home for a lot less money than eating out. It probably won't happen every night, but every once in a while you'll make one of those "as good as it gets" meals.
One crucial thing I learned back then that still holds true today is that gourmet food is more about finding the freshest, best quality ingredients available, cooking them properly and keeping it simple. As one of my old girlfriends used to say, "Less is more."
Why Build a Web site?
When I first began cooking, cookbooks would confuse me. I would read a recipe and wouldn't have a clue what some of the cooking terms meant - deglaze, fond, julienne - and have to look them up and this was before everything was on the Internet.
These cookbooks and cooking magazines I depended on were written by professionals and I don't think they were interested in the Novice home cook.
The web site idea came to me while I working on Wall Street. I needed an outlet from the everyday stress of working in a hostile environment. I decided to build the Reluctant Gourmet web site for two reasons: to keep track of what I was learning and to help other home cooks who had trouble understanding recipes.
I would force myself to learn and research everything about a recipe and then re-write it in my every day, common language for others to enjoy. Over the years, the Reluctant Gourmet has been providing cooking techniques, recipes, how-to's, cookbooks, ingredient information, culinary school information, professional chef interviews and more. As I learn, I share it with you, so we learn together.
Why "Reluctant?"
So why do I call myself reluctant? When I first started cooking, I looked up the term "gourmet" in my Food Lover's Companion. I then decided that I was reluctant to call myself gourmet--I was a reluctant gourmet. Then there is my reluctance to try new cooking techniques and recipes.
I own over 100 cookbooks and subscribe to a bunch of cooking magazines, but seldom do I follow a recipe from them. I enjoy reading about new foods and ideas and they are a great inspiration for meal ideas, but I am usually reluctant to step outside of my comfort zone.
Therefore, I have to force myself to try new cooking techniques and new recipes. Like many home cooks, come five o'clock, there are days that I am reluctant to go downstairs and prepare a meal.
In a nutshell, I am a self-taught, mistake-making, learn-by-doing, not-afraid-to-ask-questions, never-been-to-culinary-school, constantly learning stay-at-home dad and home cook.
How I Can Help
Many of you have written and told me about your own fears in the kitchen. You tell me how you feel stuck preparing those same 6 or 7 meals week after week. I get it, I've been there. Sometimes I'm still there.
I'm here to tell you it is not as difficult as you might believe to get out of that rut and start preparing restaurant quality meals at home in no time.
Armed with some basic techniques, the right tools, and the best products available, anyone can turn out a delicious gourmet meal. I am constantly on the lookout for shortcuts, techniques, products, tips--anything that will make cooking truly what it's supposed to be, FUN.
I'm not saying you'll be able to quit your job and start chefing at some fancy chic restaurant, but I will show you some basics that will make you comfortable in your own kitchen.
Where Is The Reluctant Gourmet Now
The Reluctant Gourmet lives outside Philadelphia with his beautiful wife and two daughters whom you read about in many of my articles and blog posts. They are my joy and inspiration and I'm happy to report both my young girls enjoy cooking with their dad.
My oldest loves to bake and makes birthday cakes for friends and family. My youngest has cerebral palsy but that doesn't stop her from helping me caramelize onions or make demi glace sauces.
I am truly lucky to have been able to find something I love to do and be able to share it with so many. Thank you for all your support.


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Feeling overwhelmed? Taken on too much? Having trouble saying no? Are your business boundaries being infiltrated?
If any of those questions above resonate with you, then there is a high probability that your business boundaries have been crossed.
It may have happened subtly, starting with an innocent "yes" here and a "sure I can do that". Before you know it your desk is stacked with work that is taking you away from what you love to be doing.
It may come from a place of good intention and wanting to serve others or perhaps the thought of saying no to someone fills you with dread.
Your time and energy are valuable resources. Saying yes when you really mean no, can have a negative impact on your business and your health.
There is a correlation between stress and poor health and by allowing your business boundaries to be continually crossed there is a strong likelihood of heading to burnout.
If you find that you are taking on way more tasks than you have the capacity for and it is starting to lead to frustration, overwhelm or you are easily agitated, it might be time to reel in those yeses and commit to what it is your truly want to do. Not what other people want you to do for them.
Here are some pointers on how to say no:
1) Breathe first, then respond
Take a couple of seconds to consider the impact of saying yes to a new project or task.
a) If saying no fills you with dread, consider following it up with why you said it. Sometimes people just don't appreciate how busy we might be. Explain with a positive spin and try to offer an alternative for them to consider.
2) Be honest with yourself
Say no when you know you are probably not the right person. Or you know that you have too many other tasks at the moment. Is it possible that you could refer someone who might be better suited?
3) Manage client expectations
Have clear expectations on how you will be working with a client in advance and it will be easier to say no


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Clara von Zweigbergk
Clara von Zweigbergk is a graphic designer and art director from Stockholm, Sweden. She studied at the Beckmans School of Design, Stockholm, and at Art Centre College of Design, Pasadena, USA. She has a breadth of experience in working within both advertising agencies and multidisciplinary design studios. After a period working in Milan, she returned to Sweden to set up her own design studio. Her work has received international recognition and has won a number of design awards. Zweigbergk's work is characterised by simplicity, balance and an exceptionally good grasp of colour. For HAY, she has created Kaleido, Playing Cards, Ellipse Tray, Pocket Mirror, Paper Paper Bin, Measure and Iris Collection.


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Fortune Innovations Toronto is a visionary Web Design and Development
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Iteolih: Miles and More
11 Aug 2009 Markus Koetter iteolih
We got a new milestone due:
thread-pool works
stream recording works
shellcode detection using libemu works
shellcode emulation using libemu works
compiles on linux&openbsd
An exploit taken from a public repository, run against the software, is detected and emulated.
To shorten things, basically all required points are hit with current svn.
So, given the time we just saved, some words about how it works.
The core functionality in dionaea is written in c, but python is embedded as scripting language and required parts of the c-api are exported to the embedded python, using cython bindings.
If you want to provide a service on a given port, you are free to write the service in python, or c. I prefer python, as it is more forgiving on programming errors and faster to develop than c.
So, an attacker connects the service, the connection is accepted from the c core, all io on the connection is done in c, and passed to the python protocol.
Now we want to detect shellcode in the network stream, protocol independent. At first we have to record the stream, this is optionally done in within the c core, if processing for the connection is requested by the protocol. We may want to run different checks to the stream to check for shellcode, and each check will require its own contextual data, as well as its own stream, addionally we want to run the detection/processing in threads.
For now, there are 2 useable processors we can run on streams, an libemu based detection processor, and a dumper, which writes the stream do the logfile.
If io comes in, it is appended to the processors own stream, and the stream processor is queued in the thread-pool to check the new data.
If the emu stream processor heuristics detect a shellcode, it will try to run the shellcode and create a profile for the shellcode. The profile contains all detected api calls, their args and return values. This profile is serialized to json, and emitted as incident.
The incident is delieverd to an incident handler, the incident handler reads the json profile, and -taking the api calls and args- tries to guess what the shellcode wants to do. If the handler could make sense of the api calls, he will run the appropriate actions to satisfy the requirements, bind a 'shell' to a port, download something, or run a command.
For cmd.exe shellcommands, we have to parse the commands and take appropriate action. If the commands instruct to download a file, we emit an incident which includes the url.
This incident is delieverd to an appropriate handler, which will download the file. We use curl for http, modified tftpy code for tftp and self a scripted ftp client to deal with ftp.
Thats it.
There is lots of space for improvements, for example storing the files downloaded, dumping the streams in a binary format for further analysis, useful logging, …, but we started a completly new project, and I'm glad we got so far for now.


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NEW YORK (AP) — Relax, Idina. At this star-studded ceremony, no one is going to mangle your name.
The Tony Awards celebrating Broadway start Sunday evening, which means Idina Menzel is among friends. The former star of "Rent," who returned this year with "If/Then" onstage and "Frozen" in movie theaters, heard John Travolta famously mispronounce her name at the Oscars in March. That won't happen on Sunday — theater fans consider her royalty.
The Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing, joint producers of the show, will host the glittery ceremony from Radio City Music Hall. It will be broadcast live by CBS.
Producers of the telecast will hope to build on last year's 7.24 million viewers — the show's largest audience in four years — with Hugh Jackman playing the role of host. An early rehearsal proved Jackman, now sporting a fearsome beard, has lost none of his style, affability and humor in the nine years since he last hosted. He sings several songs with panache — including all the parts from the first song in "The Music Man" — and teases the nominees goodheartedly.
Fans of former emcee Neil Patrick Harris, take heart: He'll be performing from his hit show "Hedwig and the Angry Inch," looking unrecognizable in a miniskirt and blond feathered wig. One audience member will even get a lap dance from him.
Stars slated to help present awards include Bradley Cooper, Kevin Bacon, Clint Eastwood, Leighton Meester, Kenneth Branagh, Kate Mara, Emmy Rossum, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Zachary Quinto. Some Hollywood royalty who showed up onstage this season like Denzel Washington, Daniel Radcliffe, James Franco and Rachel Weisz didn't win nominations and may skip the show. Viewership may also be tested by Game 2 of the NBA Finals.
Some 870 Tony voters — members of professional groups such as the Wing, the League, Actors' Equity Association, the Dramatists Guild and the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society — decided the final 26 competitive awards. Only Broadway shows that opened in the 12 months ending April 24 are eligible.
A music-heavy lineup has been promised that includes all the best new musical nominees — "Aladdin," "After Midnight," "Beautiful: The Carole King Musical" and "A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder" — and some overlooked ones, including "Rocky," "Bullets Over Broadway," and Menzel's show "If/Then."
Three revivals — "Les Miserables," "Violet" and "Cabaret" — will also be featured. "Wicked," which is celebrating a decade on Broadway, will have its current Glinda and Elphaba sing "For Good," and there will be songs from two shows that have yet to arrive: Sting will perform from his musical "The Last Ship" and Jennifer Hudson sings from "Finding Neverland," the musical about Peter Pan.
For best play candidates, the playwrights of "Act One," "All The Way," "Casa Valentina," "Mothers and Sons" and "Outside Mullingar" will each take turns introducing video snippets of their works.
This year, Broadway producers have a reason to party. The season's box offices hit a record total gross of $1.27 billion — up from $1.13 billion the previous season — and attendance was up 5.6 percent to 12.2 million.
Mark Kennedy can be reached at https://twitter.com/KennedyTwits
Online: https://www.tonyawards.com


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BERLIN (REUTERS) - Never mind the euro crisis or the war in Syria. What seems to have generated most comment among Germans who tuned in to a live TV debate between Dr Angela Merkel and her election rival Peer Steinbrueck is the German Chancellor's necklace.
The twisty necklace, made of long metal beads in the red, yellow and black colours of the German flag, now has its own Twitter account - with the handle @schlandkette - and that has attracted more than 6,300 followers since Sunday evening's duel.
"And the winner is: the Germany necklace," was one tongue-in-cheek Twitter verdict on Monday morning. Another tweet read: "Takeaway from the TV duel: the necklace received more attention than Steinbrueck and Merkel's answers. Sad..."
During their television debate, the only one of the election campaign, Dr Merkel and Mr Steinbrueck clashed over the euro, tax policy, US spying and other issues, but delivered few surprises. An estimated 15 million Germans watched the duel.
Mischievously, the necklace chimed in with its "own" views during the 90-minute debate, tweeting: "Do you really want her hanging around your neck for another four years? Believe me, as a necklace, I know what I'm talking about."
This wasn't the necklace's first public outing. Dr Merkel wore it on the day she won a second term as chancellor in 2009. But its public career might be over now, damaged by too much buzz.
"Now, she will probably never wear me again," the necklace sadly signed off.
Dr Merkel is expected to win a third four-year term as chancellor in the Sept 22 election, but her conservatives may end up having to establish a "grand coalition" with Mr Steinbrueck's Social Democrats.


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The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that the remains of a serviceman, missing in action from the Vietnam War, have been identified and returned to his family for burial with full military honors.
Air Force Major Thomas E. Reitmann of Red Wing, Minn., will be buried on Sept. 8 in Arlington National Cemetery.� In 1965, Reitmann was assigned to the 334th Tactical Fighter Squadron deployed out of Seymour-Johnson Air Force Base, N.C., to Takhli Air Base, Thailand. On Dec 1, 1965, he was flying a strike mission as the number three aircraft in a flight of four F-105D Thunderchiefs as part of Operation Rolling Thunder. His target was a railroad bridge located about 45 nautical miles northeast of Hanoi. As the aircrew approached the target area, they encountered extremely heavy and accurate anti-aircraft artillery (AAA). While attempting to acquire his target and release his ordnance, Reitmann received a direct AAA hit and crashed in Lang Son Province, North Vietnam. Other pilots in the flight observed no parachute, and no signals or emergency beepers were heard. Due to the intense enemy fire in the area a search-and-rescue team was not able to survey the site and a two-day electronic search found no sign of the aircraft or Reitmann.
In 1988, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (S.R.V.) repatriated remains to the United States believed to be those of Reitmann. The remains were later identified as those of another American pilot who went missing in the area on the same day as Reitmann.
Between 1991 and 2009, joint U.S.-S.R.V. teams, led by the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC), analyzed numerous leads, interviewed villagers, and attempted to locate the aircraft. Although no evidence of the crash site was found, in 2009 and 2011 a local farmer turned over remains and a metal button he claimed to have found in his corn field.
Among other forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory also used mitochondrial DNA - which matched that of his brother -- in the identification of Reitmann's remains.
For additional information on the Defense Department's mission to account for missing Americans, visit the DPMO web site at http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo or call 571-422-9059.


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• maverick •
Pronunciation: mæ-vêr-ik • Hear it!
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: 1. A calf or other animal that has left the herd and has not been branded, so that anyone who brands it can claim ownership. 2. A garrulous individualist, an iconoclast who lives by his or her own rules, posing some kind of threat to others.
Notes: Maverick is rather a maverick of a word, a garrulous individual with no lexical kin. It may, however, be used 'as is' adjectivally, "Buck Shott is a maverick CEO who took a chance when no one else would to produce pedal-powered wheelchairs."
In Play: Although we generally use this word to refer to iconoclasts who pose some sort of threat, we owe a lot to mavericks. Charles Darwin and Galileo were among the scientific mavericks who grandly expanded our understanding of the world and the universe. Henry Ford started out as a maverick who revolutionized manufacturing. Those of us who have been around for a while remember Bret (James Garner) and Bart (Jack Kelly) Maverick on the US TV show Maverick, popular in the 1960's. They were cowboys who lived around the edge of the law, mavericks among the TV cowboy heroes of the time in their cowardice and fecklessness.
Word History: The eponym of this word is Texas cattleman Samuel Maverick (1803-1870), who let the calves in his herd roam unbranded. Initially ranchers, who 'adopted' them, simply referred to them as Maverick's but the term soon migrated to mavericks. An interesting side note: Sam's grandson, Maury Maverick, coined the word gobbledygook to describe bureaucratic doubletalk while serving in the U.S. Congress.
P.S. - Register for the Daily Good Word E-Mail! - You can get our daily Good Word sent directly to you via e-mail in either HTML or Text format. Go to our Registration Page to sign up today!


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The children of highway workers killed or permanently disabled on the job will receive financial assistance in their pursuit of higher education thanks to scholarships announced by the American Road & Transportation Builders Association Transportation Development Foundation (ARTBA-TDF).
Students from Iowa, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Georgia, and Michigan have been named 2010 recipients of the ARTBA-TDF's Highway Worker Memorial Scholarship. The program was established in 1999 with a gift to the Foundation from two Roanoke, Va., highway contractors and their companies — Stan Lanford (1999 ARTBA chairman) of Lanford Brothers, and Jack Lanford (1991 ARTBA chairman), with Adams Construction Company. Both men are past ARTBA chairmen.
More than 1,000 people — including more than 100 highway workers — are killed every year on the job or in roadway construction work zone accidents. An additional 40,000 people are injured annually in these sites.
The 2010 class includes the following:
Brian Brown, Coeburn, Va.
Brian's father, Billie, was permanently disabled in an accident after jumping into a ditch to avoid being struck by a high-speed truck as he worked in a roadway work zone for the Virginia Department of Transportation. Brian is pursuing a degree in biblical studies at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va.
Carter Bundy, Flushing, Mich.
Carter's father, Dennis Bundy, an employee of the Genesee County Road Commission, was killed in June 2006 while working on a highway survey project. Carter attends Michigan State University in East Lansing and is majoring in finance.
Mitchell and Mollie Dunn, Stone Mountain, Ga.
Mitchell and Mollie Dunn's father, Steve Dunn, was killed in 2009 by a drunk driver while working on a road construction site in Jupiter, Fla. In the fall, Mollie, a public relations major, will be entering her senior year at the University of Alabama. Mitchell will be a freshman at the College of Charleston and intends to major in history and sociology.
Joseph Halvorson, Ames, Iowa
Joe's father, Russell Halvorson, was working for Davis Concrete/Silvestri Paving Company installing new curbs on a road in Illinois when he was killed by a drunk driver in 1989. Joe is pursuing a degree in meteorology at Iowa State University.
Brianna Keefe, Wyalusing, Pa.
Brianna's dad, Bret Keefe, was killed in a car accident in 2001 while working for the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation. She attends Northwestern University near Chicago and is majoring in journalism.
Allison Moore, Chula, Ga.
Allison's father, Steve Moore, was killed in an accident while working as an employee of the Georgia Department of Transportation in November 1996. Allison attends Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College in Georgia and is majoring in political science.
Nahun Morales, Springfield, Va.
Nahun's dad, Nahun Levia, was injured and disabled while working on a highway and bridge project in the Washington, D.C., area. Nahun attends Northern Virginia Community College and is majoring in business administration.
The ARTBA-TDF is interested in receiving contact leads on students who could benefit from the scholarship program.
Please share them with ARTBA Scholarship and Awards Manager Holly Bolton at [email protected] or 202-289-4434. Individuals and firms interested in supporting the scholarship program can do so by sending a check payable to: ARTBA-TDF, 1219 28th Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20007.


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Happy October!
This is a blog post from the heart, a reflection on what I'm feeling and have (once again) fallen into.
This happens every six months or so. Usually it's because I accept too much work and get too exhausted to remember my own rules.
Hopefully, this blog post will help you one day when you're a session player — and are wondering why the hell you became one!
Below is a list of some common pitfalls and how to avoid them.
1. Lack of Creativity
Do believe you have a soul? A spirit? Musical integrity? Kiss them goodbye! You will mainly play the easiest most uncreative music in the world. And this will happen weeks at a time! Solution: Have a musical outlet that appeals to you. Treat your job as a job when need be. Get in and get out. Mentally prepare yourself for each session.
2. Lack of Personal Life/Deadlines
Everybody needs their music done yesterday because (insert musical asshole guru of the month here) is "waiting" to hear it. Burnout, anyone? Solution: Don't allow yourself to be taken advantage of. Be nice, be professional to clients, but be excellent to yourself. Eat right. Exercise. Rest. Physically and mentally!
3. Desk Job
Do you like computers? Backing up? Loading? Transferring files? Most of your time will be spent doing just that because most of the time the guitar parts take no skill and no time to play! Solution: There may not be one! Backing up and loading and mailing is part of the job. Just make sure you have top-of-the-line computers. The faster the computer, the less time spent on tedium!
4. Your Life is in Isolation
These days, it's a lonely world. Studio players like me often work alone with zero immediate feedback. And I am talking most days for months! Solution: Do not live in a rural area with no "scene." Have relationships and make time for them. Get out and force yourself to hear some live music played by great musician's playing off each other!
5. You May Wind Up Hating the Guitar
It happens. Plumbers often have the worst pipes. Play too much unfulfilling music and you won't want to even look at a guitar eventually! Solution: Keep it a job. Get in and out. Always give it all you've got, but if you are doing a session you love, then cherish that session and client. Make sure you listen to music you love that inspires you before and after mindless sessions. Make time to record your songs, your music! Hard to do. I usually need weeks off to work on something for myself.
So remember:
It is not a job. It is a calling. You have to accept the good with the bad in any job. Treat it as such. Set limits. Be professional. Accept only projects that appeal to you as much as you can. Take vacations from your job! Make sure you stay creative! Get plenty of exercise and rest. Eat healthy. Have relationships. And every few months reevaluate your musical goals and act on them.
Gotta go work on MY NEXT CD now. (And it WILL involve other players ... and maybe some jugglers and strippers! Or juggling strippers!)
Till next time ...
Ron Zabrocki on Ron Zabrocki: I'm a session guitarist from New York, now living in Connecticut. I started playing at age 6, sight reading right off the bat. That's how I was taught, so I just believed everyone started that way! I could pretty much sight read anything within a few years, and that aided me in becoming a session guy later in life. I took lessons from anyone I could and was fortunate enough to have some wonderful instructors, including John Scofield, Joe Pass and Alan DeMausse. I've played many jingle sessions, and even now I not only play them but have written a few. I've "ghosted" for a few people that shall remain nameless, but they get the credit and I got the money! I've played sessions in every style, from pop to jazz.


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Spice labelling
Seasoning: the young, thin, detached and dried outer layer of the young twig shoots or root stocks. They occur mostly rolled stick in form, or gorund. The immature, dried fruits, cinnamon blooms or cassia buds - and the leaves of the cinnamon tree are used in the countries of origin as seasoning.
Ceylon cinnamon has an aromatic, sweet smell: its taste is unmistakeably sweet-hot, warm and mildly woody. The aroma of cassia is tangy and stronger than that of Ceylon cinnamon; it is also far more "pungent" and fiery in taste.
Cinnamon flowers


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Homes for rent & sale near this school
from Movoto
This section shows how much academic progress (also called "growth") students at this school are making given where they were last year, compared to similar students in the state.
Currently, this information is unavailable. Update me when new information is published on this school's profile.
This school is above the state average in key measures of college and career readiness.
Even at schools with strong college and career readiness, there may be students who are not getting the opportunities they need to succeed.


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Submitted to: Agrociencia
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal Publication Acceptance Date: 8/30/2012 Publication Date: 9/21/2012 Citation: Franzluebbers, A.J. 2012. Soil organic carbon dynamics under conservation agricultural systems. Agrociencia. 2012 Special Issue, p. 162-174. Interpretive Summary: Sustainability of agricultural systems relies on soil of high quality that is nurtured; a key indicator of soil quality is the level and distribution of soil organic carbon content. A scientist with USDA – Agricultural Research Service in Raleigh NC summarized recent literature on soil organic carbon sequestration in cropping systems of the southeastern USA for an invited speech at the 19th International Soil Tillage Research Organization conference in Montevideo, Uruguay. Soil quality can be enhanced with various conservation approaches that are based on three principles, namely minimizing soil disturbance, maximizing soil cover, and stimulating biological activity. This literature review helps frame future research to improve soil quality for millions of land owners in the southeastern USA and around the world. Technical Abstract: Soil organic carbon (SOC) is a key element in the valuation of natural resources and the evaluation of how management affects soil quality and ecosystem services derived from soil. This paper describes a summary of some recent research aimed at understanding how SOC contributes to (a) various soil properties and processes, (b) global cycling of carbon, and (c) support of various ecosystem services. Stratified SOC with depth under conservation agricultural approaches helps soil function to an optimum. Conservation management approaches focusing on minimizing soil disturbance, maximizing soil cover, and stimulating biological activity can be achieved with different cropping choices and production goals in different environments all around the world. In the southeastern USA, SOC sequestration was 0.30 + 0.05 Mg ha-1 yr-1 in no-tillage systems without cover crop and 0.55 + 0.06 Mg ha-1 yr-1 in no-tillage systems with cover crop, suggesting that greater C input with increasing cropping system complexity of no-tillage systems will be beneficial to SOC storage. The key to success for adoption of conservation agriculture will be to consider the agronomic, ecological, environmental, and economic constraints within a particular farm setting. On-going research continues to support the key contributions that enhanced SOC with conservation agricultural approaches can give to farmers and society. |


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Recall that Zariski's Main Theorem states that if $f: X \to Y$ is a quasi-finite, separated, and finitely presented morphism into a quasi-compact separated scheme $Y$, then there is a factorization of $f$ into an open immersion followed by a finite morphism. In EGA IV-8, this is proved by reducing to the case of $Y$ the $\mathrm{Spec}$ of a noetherian ring by a finite presentation argument (the general machinery of which is developed in the prior part of that section), then reducing to the case of a local noetherian excellent ring (by again using the finite presentation argument, since by this machinery proving things about the local scheme $\mathrm{Spec}(\mathcal{O}_y)$ is the same as proving things in a neighborhood), and finally by completing and proving the result for $Y$ the spectrum of a complete local noetherian ring, after which it is basically commutative algebra.
This argument is very pretty, but I am curious if there is a more elementary approach in the special case of $Y$ noetherian, or even in the classical case of schemes of finite type over a field (that avoids the general machinery of finite presentation arguments and the descent of properties of morphisms under faithfully flat base-change). Namely, I am curious whether there is an argument that uses less fancy machinery, and could be phrased in the language of varieties. Is there one?


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I'm building a subscription-based website that needs to accept recurring payments. The concept is much like that of Netflix, but there is also a variation between the two.
- When a user attempts to sign up, ask for their credit card info and check to see if the CC is valid. Also make sure no credit card is linked to more than one user, so there will be a one-to-one mapping between a username and a credit card (one-to-many is fine too). If a new user attempts to register a CC that's already been stored, the registration fails.
- Give the user a 30-day trial period. Do not charge them if they don't want to continue their service
- Otherwise charge them
How could I achieve this? Is looking up credit card data to see if it's already on the system considered OK? I've been researching PayPal and Authorize.net, but I'm still not sure if I can do all the things above using a third-party gateway.
Also, does checking credit card validity (not talking about algorithmic checking) cost money? I don't want to pay whenever a spammer or a bot attempts to register an invalid card. This might be extremely costly.
I'm willing to go through PCI compliance scrutiny.


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Today, we are excited to announce the new hacin.com!
We've worked super hard these past few months to bring you an entirely new experience and we're thrilled to finally show it off. We have tons of new features, including new spreads of our best work in architecture + interiors, innovative workspaces, urban mixed-use, beautiful retail spaces and some of our most forward-thinking collaborations in urban design.
We also have a whole new section profiling our talented team of architects and interior designers (don't forget Oscar!) and our new project pages now showcase hundreds of new images by our amazingly talented photography collaborators.
We're also pleased to announce the new home of the H+A Newsblog. You can now find all the great new stories, press, interviews and features on the new site at hacin.com/blog.
Follow us as we announce new projects and news. And to make sure you always have the latest on H+A, follow us on Twitter @HacinAssociates.


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Back in March, I reported that the Chicago Cubs were considering changing their A-ball affiliation, which is currently with the Peoria Chiefs. At the time, the South Bend Silver Hawks were the possible target, but the organization there took the steps necessary to stick with the Diamondbacks, and the rumor died on the vine.
Until now.
According to Gordon Wittenmyer (and a tipster early this morning), the Cubs are planning to change their affiliation from Peoria to Kane County, just west of Chicago, as soon as next season. The Cubs have been affiliated with the Peoria Chiefs for the last eight years, and had a previous 10-year run with the organization in the late-80s/early-90s.
Although the move would undoubtedly be sad for some folks down in the Peoria area, you can understand the Cubs' desire to relocate the A-ball affiliation some 120 miles closer to Chicago. It would make seeing some of the top prospects in the system a little easier for Chicago locals (and folks who travel into Chicago for a Cubs game, for example).
As for the Chiefs, given those pre-season rumors, I can't help but suspect that they aren't going to be blindsided by this news. They'll find a new affiliation, and move on. These things can be unpleasant, but they happen.


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French cuisine consists of cooking traditions and practices from France. At one time French cuisine was heavily influenced by Italian cuisine. It was in the 17th century that some chefs led a movement that developed France's own indigenous style by shifting it away from its foreign influences. Cheese and wine are a major part of the cuisine, playing different roles regionally and nationally, with many variations.
French cuisine was codified in the 20th century as the modern haute cuisine. Knowledge of French cooking has contributed significantly to Western cuisines and its criteria are used widely in Western cookery school boards and culinary education.
French regional cuisine is characterized by its extreme diversity and style. Traditionally, each region of France has its own distinctive cuisine.
Prep Time : 11-15 minutes
Cook time : 11-15 minutes
Serve : 4
Level Of Cooking : Moderate
Taste : Mild


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有料の会員登録を行うと 収録されているすべての楽曲が ノーカットで聴き放題!
ホーム > 作曲家 > 作曲家(クラシック) > トマゾ・ジョヴァンニ・アルビノーニ (Tomaso Giovanni Albinoni)
A contemporary of Vivaldi in Venice, Tomaso Giovanni Albinoni claimed to have written some 80 operas (which are now generally neglected) and a variety of instrumental works, many of which remain in chamber-orchestra repertoire.
Orchestral Music The most popular work associated with the name of Albinoni is the spurious but delightful Adagio by the musicologist Remo Giazotto, apparently based on a genuine fragment by Albinoni himself. Albinoni did write some 54 concertos. Of these the set of 12 for strings, Op. 5, the 12 Oboe Concertos, Op. 7, the set of a dozen varied concertos, Op. 9 and the Violin Concertos, Op. 10 repay attention.
Chamber Music Chamber music by Albinoni includes two attractive works written for trumpet and strings, the Sonata a 6 and the Sonata di concerto a 7, as well as four sets of trio sonatas.
Opera Albinoni was prolific and successful as a composer of opera, from his first, Zenobia, regina de'Palmireni, in 1694 to Artamene in 1741. He claimed credit for 80 such works by the time of his penultimate opera in 1734. His Statira, illustrated by an aggressive battle aria with warlike trumpets, was staged in Rome in 1726.


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Dodgers start David Wells, LHP (8-9, 5.53) vs. Kevin Correia, RHP (4-6, 3.20).
Dodgers: 80-79 (4th place NL West for good, 9.0 GB, L3)
Giants: 70-89 (5th/last place NL West, 19 GB, L2)
From Dodgers.com, the scouting report on the starters:
Dodgers: Wells struggled in his last start on Saturday against the D-backs. He was pitching on three days' rest, although he said he felt fine. The veteran allowed five runs on nine hits in 4 2/3 innings, yielding runs in all but one of the innings he pitched in while digging the Dodgers a 5-0 deficit. He also gave up five runs in his previous start when Los Angeles lost at Colorado. Before that, the acquisition of Wells had paid off for the Dodgers, as the veteran lefty had gone 3-0 in four starts, giving up no more than three runs in any of those outings.Giants: Correia is looking more like a full time starter with every appearance, and after his last start it looks like the transformation is complete. Correia shut out the Reds over seven innings using every pitch in his arsenal effectively, and lowered his starting ERA to 1.80. The Giants have now won six of Correia's seven starts and Correia has pitched his way into a potential starting role for next season. This will be Correia's last start of the season.
COMMENTS: When I was at undergrad, the "Big Game" between Stanford and Cal in college football was always laced with hilarity, as the two schools battled it out for 9th and 10th place in the Pac-10. Sort of reminds me of this weekend's series with the Giants, which will put a merciful end to the 2007 season. Instead of a heated rivalry, we're going to get three games without playoff implications, Barry Bonds, Jeff Kent, Rafael Furcal, or Brad Penny (supposedly he is not starting Sunday, after all). Yawn.